Coupling mechanism for locomotives.



E. H. SCHMIDT.

4 GOUPLING MEGHANISM FOR LOCOMOTIVES. l APPLIOATION FILED Nov. 1s, 1909.1 ,01 6,782.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

INVENTOR Patented Feb. 6, 1912.

VIITNESSES E. H. SCHMIDT. ooUPLING MBGHANISM PoR 'LoooMoTIvBsAPPLICATION FILED NOV. 13,1909.

1,01 6,782. Peeeneea Feb. 6, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES INVENTOR W emle,

meh,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

'ERNEST H. SCHMIDT, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE NATIONALMALLEABLE CASTINGS COMPANY, 0F CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION 0F OHIO.

COUE'LING` MECHANISM FOR LOCOMOTIVES.

To all whom 'it may concern Be it known that I, ERNEST H. SCHMIDT, ofCleveland, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, have invented a new and useful CouplerMechanism for Locomotives, of which the following is afull, clear, andexact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a plan viewpartly in section illustrating my invention in its application to thepilot end of a locomotive; and Fig.2 is a sectional side elevation ofthe same; Fig. 3 is a section on the line TU III of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4is a detail view, partly in section and partly in side elevation of thecombined pocket yoke.

My invention has relation to coupler mechanism for the pilot ends oflocomotives.

The common method of application of an automatic coupler to the pilotend of a locomotive, is to pin a very short shank coupler within t-hemouth of a pocket, which, in turn, is bolted rigidly to the bumper orpilot beam. The formation of the pocket and of the specially shapedshank of the coupler permits of the movement of the oo upler head in ahorizontal direction about its pin connection within the pocket, thisrotation being usually limited to a certain number of degrees to eitherside of the center line of the coupling. Except for this lateral motionof the coupler, the connection is usually a rigid one with no cushioningdevice to receive the shocks of pulling and bulling and for transmittingsuch shocks to the en-` gine framing, although springs have sometimesbeen used between the coupler and the pocket. v

My invention is designed to provide means of novel character, wherebythe pocket within which the coupler head is pivoted, is adapted to havea longitudinal motion in the line of draft, said motion in both forwardand rearward directions be'- ing resisted by spring, frict-ional, orother suitable resistance.

The precise nature of my invention will be best understood by referenceto-the drawings, in which l have shown the preferred embodiment thereof,and which will now be described, it being premised, however, thatvarious changes may be made in the details of construction andarrangement of parts Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led November 13, 1909.

Patented Feb. 6, 1912.

Serial No, 527,809.

by those skilled in the art without departlng from the spirit and scopeof my invention.

In these drawings, the numeral 2 designates a top opening pilot couplerhead of the usual form having its shank extending wit-hin the mouth of apocket 3-within which i itis pivotally secured by the vertical pin 4.

form of shock cushion. The pilot beam 8 is' formed with a suitablerecess 5a within which to receive the combined pocket yoke 5. Theportion 5 operates in the same manner as the usual yoke of a draftrigging. The holes 4 for the pin in the pocket are elongated slightly ina longitudinal direction so that in bulling the blow is -not transmittedthrough the pin but from the rounded rear end of the coupler shank tothe front wall of the pocket 8 and thence to the front follower 7. Thepulling strains are transmitted by the pin from the coupler to thepocket and thence tothe yoke and the rear follower 7. Two or more of thedraft riggings 6 may be placed in parallel within this yoke portion 5,as shown, so as to give any desired amount of resistance. The bottomwall of the recess 5Sl is formed by a removable plate 5b so as to permitof the insertion and removal of the rigging from the bottom.

The coupler 2 maybe of any well known type. A top-opening coupler isshown having a vertically movable coupler locking member, to which isconnected the lifting link 11.

The advantages of my invention will be readily understood by thoseskilled in the art, since it makes it possible to apply to a locomotivepilot coupler and draft rigging having any desired amount of cushionedresistance to receive butting and `pulling shocks and transmit suchshocks to the locomotive frame.

It will be obvious that various changes may bemade in the details ofcon-struction and arrangement of the several parts without departingfrom the spirit and' scope of my invention. Thus, the `form of thecombined ,pocketJ yoke may be changed; any

suitable draft rigging or riggings may be used in connection therewith;and various other changes may be employed.

Wha-t I claim is:-

A pilot beam for locomotives, comprising en upper horizontal portion anda dependlng portion, said depending portion being l0 of hollow box formto form a pocket for a draft rigging, said box portion having an openbottom, and :L removable plate normally closing the open bottom,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set 15 my hand. y

ERNEST H. SCHLDDT. Witnesses:

CHESTER K. Bnooris,

HARRY E. OER.

